Wherein an adult student of oboe chronicles her adventures in music, medicine, and faith, and other stories...
“Novelists, opera singers, even doctors, have in common the unique and marvelous experience of entering into the very skin of another human being. What can compare with it?” -Willa Cather

Friday, July 4, 2008

Freedom

Every July 4th I watch my family playing in the sand or eating corn on the cob and I start thinking about what freedom is.

Freedom.

Ability to choose.

No fears.

No limits.

No interference.

No constraints.

No burdens.

No hunger.

Peace with self.

Peace with others.

No need to rely on prejudice or violence.

Being who you want to be.

Saying what you want to say.

Thinking how you want to think.

Going where you want to go when you want to go.

Respect all around.

Freedom.Worth fighting for. Worth helping each other attain.Impossible without justice.Without reverence for human life and rights.Without peace.Without thoughtful stewardship of our life on this troubled, fearful earth.

Freedom.What we're here to learn.

In the U.S. we celebrate freedom on this day and enjoy most of its components every day.

But imagine for a moment being...a woman under Taliban rule in Afghanistan...a journalist in China...an immigrant in South Africa...a member of the "wrong" side in Zimbabwe...a hostage in Colombia...a resident of Iraq...a street child in the Philippines...a refugee in Darfur...a quadriplegic in an ICU...a wrongfully imprisoned person...a teenage girl forced to marry against your will...an elderly man whose friends have all passed away and who depends on the help others just to go about his daily activities...a sex slave in any number of countries around the world...a tortured prisoner of war...an abused wife who fears for her own life...a man struggling to provide food and shelter for his family...a family forced to flee their home because the resources around it have been irrevocably altered or destroyed

Is it possible for us all to be truly free?

I don't know. But I do know I haven't done enough to contribute to the world's freedom, and that I too often take the freedoms I have for granted.

_______________________________________________________

A follow-up thought / question that's been bugging me since I jotted this post down: whether for individuals or for nations...is freedom possible without wealth?

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About Me

I'm a wife & mom. I'm a doctor too. I listen to classical Christmas carols all year round (they make me happy). I also love to read, write, cook, eat, dance, play music, and ponder things. I do a lot of my pondering here.

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Practicalities

1. Please don't take anything you read here as medical advice.2. Please be courteous when leaving comments.3. Comments reflect only the opinions of the individuals leaving them; I won't delete them, even if they go against my own opinions and beliefs, UNLESS they are written offensively or disrespectfully.4. All patient identifiers have been removed or altered to protect patient privacy. Most other proper names used here have been changed as well, unless the change has seemed unnecessary for fairly obvious reasons, or the individuals named somehow indicated to me that they did not mind being identified.

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Journal Club (added 5/30/07)

In med school & residency there was "Journal Club" - a kill-me-now-to-put-me-out-of-my-freakish-misery type of exercise during which we were supposed to exchange ideas about a paper from an academic medical publication. I couldn't think of a less appealing way to spend my time.
But here's a different kind of Journal Club - the FUN kind. Pick a journal writing question, write a response, get together with a bunch of friends who love to do this kind of thing, read your answers to each other, and share thoughts. Make up your own questions, write, & read some more. Make sure you have lots of good food and drink to share!

Journal Writing Questions

Why do you write?

What is your idea of success?

What do you spend enormous amounts of energy on? Why?

Who / what has influenced you?

What belief do you hold most dear? What does your faith consist of? What do you refuse to believe?

If you could interview anyone, living or dead, fictional or real, whom would you choose and why?